Electrify Your Winter: Romantic Comedies

January 1, 2018 | madame librarian
Midnight masquerade [electronic resource]

Young businesswoman Elyse Samford's life takes a turn when she inherits Samford Candy, a multi-billion dollar corporation, from her retired father. A trademark infringement lawsuit against a rival company brings Elyse to Higgins Attorneys and Sons, where Rob Carelli, a young, too-nice-for-his-own-good lawyer, is bullied by his boss, firm founder Carter Higgins, and his two arrogant sons. Despite his workplace woes, Rob becomes instantly smitten with Elyse.

My man Godfrey [electronic resource]

A scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler...but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.

Best Non-Fiction of 2017

January 1, 2018 | madame librarian

Every year the Canton Public Library staff name their favorite book of the year.  This list is a mixture of  Adult, Teen, Tween, and Children's Non-fiction published between December 2016 - December 2017.

There's no such thing as bad weather : a Scandinavian mom's secrets for raising healthy, resilient, and confident kids (from friluftsliv to hygge) by Linda Akeson McGurk

When Swedish-born Linda McGurk moved to small-town Indiana with her American husband to start a family, she quickly realized that her outdoorsy ways were not the norm. In Sweden children play outside all year round, regardless of the weather, and letting young babies nap outside in freezing temperatures is not only common--it is a practice recommended by physicians. In the US, on the other hand, she found that the playgrounds, which she had expected to find teeming with children, were mostly deserted. In preschool, children were getting drilled to learn academic skills, while their Scandinavian counterparts were climbing trees, catching frogs, and learning how to compost. Worse, she realized that giving her daughters the same freedom to play outside that she had enjoyed as a child in Sweden could quickly lead to a visit by Child Protective Services. 

Birding without borders : an obsession, a quest, and the biggest year in the world by Noah K Strycker

Traveling to 41 countries in 2015 with a backpack and binoculars, Noah Strycker became the first person to see more than half the world's 10,000 species of birds in one year.  In 2015, Noah Strycker set himself a lofty goal: to become the first person to see half the world's birds in one year. For 365 days, with a backpack, binoculars, and a series of one-way tickets, he traveled across forty-one countries and all seven continents, eventually spotting 6,042 species--by far the biggest birding year on record. This is no travelogue or glorified checklist. Noah ventures deep into a world of blood-sucking leeches, chronic sleep deprivation, airline snafus, breakdowns, mudslides, floods, war zones, ecologic devastation, conservation triumphs, common and iconic species, and scores of passionate bird lovers around the globe. By pursuing the freest creatures on the planet, Noah gains a unique perspective on the world they share with us--and offers a hopeful message that even as many birds face an uncertain future, more people than ever are working to protect them.

Canton Seniors Book Discussion Reading List: January-June 2018

December 29, 2017 | madame librarian

The Canton Seniors Book Group meets on the fourth Thursday of every month (except December) from 2:00-3:00 PM. No registration required.  The December meeting is used to share favorite titles and make suggestions for the coming year. Join us in this open, no-registration-required conversation.

January 25, 2018

The red tent by Anita Diamant
Also available in: audiobook | video

The story of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, is told from her point of view, beginning with the story of her mothers, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah. These wives of Jacob give her the gifts that are to sustain her through a damaged youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land.

Best Fiction of 2017

December 13, 2017 | madame librarian

Every year the Canton Public Library staff name their favorite book of the year.  This list is a mixture of  Adult, Teen, Tween, and Children's fiction published between December 2016 - December 2017.

Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory
Also available in: e-book | e-audiobook

"A generations-spanning family of psychics--both blessed and burdened by their abilities--must use their powers to save themselves from the CIA, the local mafia, and a skeptic hell-bent on discrediting them in this hilarious, tender, magical novel about the invisible forces that bind us. The Telemachus family is known for performing inexplicable feats on talk shows and late-night television. Teddy, a master conman, heads up a clan who possess gifts he only fakes: there's Maureen, who can astral project; Irene, the human lie detector; Frankie, gifted with telekinesis; and Buddy, the clairvoyant. But when, one night, the magic fails to materialize, the family withdraws to Chicago where they live in shame for years. Until: As they find themselves facing a troika of threats (CIA, mafia, unrelenting skeptic), Matty, grandson of the family patriarch, discovers a bit of the old Telemachus magic in himself. Now, they must put past obstacles behind them and unite like never before. But will it be enough to bring The Amazing Telemachus Family back to its amazing life?"--.

The nix by Nathan Hill
Also available in: e-book | e-audiobook

"An epic novel about a son, the mother who left him as a child, and how his search to uncover the secrets of her life leads him to reclaim his own"--.

Canton Seniors Book Discussion: May 24, 2018

madame librarian
Shanghai girls : a novel by Lisa See

In the mid 1930's, when their family is on the verge of bankruptcy, two well-educated sisters from Shanghai go to Los Angeles to become brides of the "Gold Mountain Men". When they get there, they are detained, interrogated, and humiliated for months. When one of the sisters becomes pregnant, they vow that no one will ever know.

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

Canton Seniors Book Discussion: April 26, 2018

madame librarian
Wolf's Mouth by John Smolens
Also available in: e-book

In 1944, Italian officer Captain Francesco Verdi is captured by Allied forces in North Africa and shipped to a POW camp in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The senior POW, the ruthless Kommandant Vogel, demands that all prisoners adhere to his Nazi dictates. His life threatened, Verdi escapes from the camp and meets up with an American woman, Chiara Frangiapani, who helps him elude capture as they flee to the Lower Peninsula. By 1956 they have become Frank and Claire Green, a young married couple building a new life in postwar Detroit. When INS agent James Giannopoulos tracks them down, Frank learns that Vogel is executing men like Frank for their wartime transgressions. As a series of brutal murders rivets Detroit, Frank is caught between American justice and Nazi vengeance. In Wolf 's Mouth, the recollections of Francesco Verdi/Frank Green give voice to the hopes, fears, and hard choices of a survivor as he strives to escape the ghosts of history.

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

Canton Seniors Book Discussion: March 22, 2018

madame librarian
The women in the castle by Jessica Shattuck
Also available in: e-book | audiobook | e-audiobook

02Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold, are the focus of this riveting novel. Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, this is a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined--an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Hazards of Good Breeding.  

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

Canton Seniors Book Discussion: February 22, 2018

madame librarian
X : a novel by Ilyasah Shabazz

Michigan Humanities Council announced the sixth  Great Michigan Read, a biennial statewide literary program focusing on humanities themes. The Great Michigan Read aims to connect us as Michiganians by deepening our understanding of our state, our society, and our humanity. A statewide panel of teachers, librarians, community leaders, and book lovers select the Great Michigan Read every two years.

The 2017-18 Great Michigan Read title is X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon which follows the childhood of civil rights leader  Malcolm X to his imprisonment at age twenty, where he found the faith that would lead him on his path towards activism and justice.

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

Canton Seniors Book Discussion: January 25, 2018

madame librarian
The red tent by Anita Diamant
Also available in: audiobook | video

The story of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, is told from her point of view, beginning with the story of her mothers, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah. These wives of Jacob give her the gifts that are to sustain her through a damaged youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. This session will meet in the Arts II Room at Club 55+ located inside Canton's Summit on the Park.

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

Savvy Seniors: December 2017

December 1, 2017 | madame librarian

“I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming that comes when you finish the life of the emotions and of personal relations; and suddenly you find—at the age of fifty, say—that a whole new life has opened before you, filled with things you can think about, study, or read about.... It is as if a fresh sap of ideas and thoughts was rising in you.” ~ Agatha Christie (1890 -1976) An Autobiography (1977)

Disrupt aging : a bold new path to living your best life at every age by Jo Ann Jenkins

""At 50, I began to know who I was. It was like waking up to myself." - Maya Angelou We've all seen the ads on TV and in magazines--"50 is the new 30!" or "60 is the new 40!" A nice sentiment to be sure, but Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO of AARP and author of Disrupt Aging, disagrees. 50 is 50 and she, for one, likes the look of it. People 50-plus today face distinct challenges and have different goals than people in their 30s and 40s. They're at a different place in their lives and are motivated by different things. They see the world through a lens that is shaped by the ups and downs of life, by the wisdom gained from those experiences, and by the comfort that comes from having a better understanding of who they are as individuals and what they want from life. We are living decades longer than our grandparents--how will we spend those years? Disrupt Aging sets out to change the current conversation about what it means to get older. In it, Jenkins chronicles her own journey, as well as those of others who are making their mark as disruptors, to show readers how we can all be active, financially unburdened, and happy as we get older. It's an engaging narrative that touches on all the important issues facing people 50+ today, from caregiving and mindful living to building age-friendly communities and attaining financial freedom"--.

Life gets better : the unexpected pleasures of growing older by Wendy Lustbader

Combines first-person stories from older people in all walks of life with the author's personal observations to look at the experience of aging, showing the later years to be a time of emotional, intellectual, and spiritual growth and happiness, rather than a period of decline.

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